One People, One Nation, One Leader

One people, One Nation, One Leader

The 1930s saw a rise in German power across the European continent. They had successfully annexed Austria and Czechoslovakia without any military response from the West. They had managed to successfully remilitarize thanks to the defiant attitudes of the Nazi leadership. The Nazi party was masterful with propaganda in their country bolstering immense support for the government and citing the annexations of these countries as to incorporate ethnic Germans. The leadership had developed a cult of personality around Adolf Hitler the chancellor of Germany. This coupled with the remilitarization lead to a dangerous mixture.

One main theme to the Nazi propaganda was the motto “Ein Volk, Ein Reich, Ein Führer” or “One people, One Nation, One Leader.” In many posters Hitler was depicted as “a mystical figure, guiding the nation’s destiny.” (BBC). While many posters with this tagline depicted Hitler there were some exceptions. This postcard for examples depicts Germany’s recent land gains. This card was made in 1939 prior to Germany’s full annexation of Czechoslovakia.(Deutsche fotothek). This was meant to be seen by every German, being a postcard. All Germans were to know how much more land Germany would have by 1939.The name of the author is depicted on the postcard but very hard to read.

Artistically this postcard uses the colors to contrast each other. The red, by now synonymous with the Nazi flag, covers the country along with some newly acquired territories in Saarland, Austria, and the Sudetenland. The bottom of the postcard depicts a key to what the newly acquired territories are with the phrase “Heimkehr in das altreich.” This roughly translates to “return to Germany Proper” (Deutsche fotothek). The inclusion of the German Eagle coupled with the Nazi symbol is used to make them a synonymous image together. The pillar the Eagle is on could be representative of the concept of the thousand year reich the Nazis tried to instill onto the population.

The use of this postcard was to get the idea of a united German nation to be a good thing under the government. This is similar to how Prussia justified creating the German state in the 19th century. Uniting ethnic Germans would be needed to create a better, stronger empire. This could be used to bolster more support for the regime. Being a German resident and seeing the fast land gains your country is making will make them think Germany is incredibly powerful and the Nazi regime has given them new life. This support would be needed for World War II which started not a year later. The choice of using a map is also an interesting idea to depict the empire instead of some type of political cartoon. This visualization makes Germany appear to be the only great power in the area, no other countries end up being highlighted. The addition of annexation dates also seem to be like a good idea to show how fast the land was acquired from the European states. The thousand year reich looked poised to keep on gaining land, unfortunately for the Nazi regime, the land grabbing would be the death of them.